Plasma bank gets ready in just two days

New Delhi

New Delhi

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Two days ago, the state-of-the-art convalescent plasma bank inaugurated at south Delhi’s Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) on Thursday was a store room.

The hospital worked swiftly to add 10 beds and apheresis machines -- which separates the blood components and collects plasma – and get approval from Delhi’s drug controller before Thursday’s inauguration.

This is India’s first plasma bank set up by the Delhi government to help Covid-19 patients in need of the therapy.

“There is no vaccine for the disease, but initial results have shown plasma from recovered patients reduces mortality from Covid-19. People of Delhi were facing a lot of problems in getting plasma for corona patients. This bank will streamline the process,” chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said at the inauguration.

“The idea of setting up a bank was floated so that people do not have to keeping calling people randomly or reach out to various organisations in times of need. Once it was decided, all the approvals came through quickly. We already have a very well-established apheresis programme so it wasn’t a challenge for us to start the bank in just two days,” said Dr Meenu Bajpai, faculty-in-charge of the department of transfusion medicine at ILBS.

So far, 63,007 people have recovered from the infection in the city.

Convalescent plasma therapy uses a blood component called plasma, containing virus-fighting antibodies, from a person who has recovered from the infection. When given to a patient with Covid-19, it should help their immune system fight the virus.

Vinay Prakash, 29, a staff nurse from the endoscopy department of ILBS hospital, lay on a recliner chair attached to a machine that circulated his blood to extract a bag of pale yellow liquid.

Prakash got the infection and recovered without any symptoms on June 1. “My sample was collected along with the other staff members as part of the routine screening and I tested positive. Had I not been tested, I would not even have realised I had the infection. And now, I can save someone’s life,” said Prakash, who was among the donors on the very first day. The hospital said 10 people came in to donate plasma on Thursday.

For Ajay Arya, 48, a teacher from a Delhi government school, the 25-km journey from West Vinod Nagar to ILBS meant nothing. He knew he would be saving two lives if he donated his plasma. The apheresis machine collects about 500 ml of plasma from each donor, whereas patients need only about 200 ml.

“I had recovered from the infection in the first week of June. So, when I got a call from the Delhi government, I was not surprised. I was told that I could save two people with the plasma I donate. I did not even need to think twice,” Arya said.

A reception area with the words ‘Delhi Plasma Bank’ greets people at the main building. There are two separate queues for donors and people in need of plasma. To reach the plasma bank, the recovered Covid-19 patients take the elevator to the second floor. To maintain social distance, only four people, facing the four corners of the elevator, can ride at once.

“This is a non-Covid hospital and we screen everyone coming in to ensure nobody carries the infection in. This should put the mind of people who have recovered from the infection at ease,” said Dr SK Sarin, director, ILBS. The fear of getting the infection again has been one of the challenges that hospitals have been facing in getting donors.

A small trial conducted at Delhi’s biggest Covid19 hospital, Lok Nayak, showed an improved respiratory rate, oxygen saturation and sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score that predicts ICU mortality. Duration of ICU stay as well as hospital stay was also less in patients who were given convalescent plasma.